In a majority of situations, commercial, industrial and residential, plumbing entails the installation of separate hot and cold water systems. Hot water is supplied from a conventional, centrally located heater system which heats and holds a specific volume of water at a selected temperature until there is a demand for the hot water. This conventional system results in a considerable waste of energy in maintaining the proper temperature. The heater and reservoir is either substantially overdesigned in the heating characteristics and storage capacity or substantially underdesigned, and therefore, inadequate during peak hours of use.
In any event, maintaining the temperature of large quantities of water at a predetermined temperature during periods of no demand or light demand results in an unnecessary demand on a decreasing energy supply.
Microwave heaters can supply substantially an instant supply of hot water. However, present design limits the quantity of hot water to the capacity of the heater. Energy conservation and rising consumer consumption throughout society are opposed problems and can be met by a new approach to the supply of water without the utilization of a reservoir wherein an alternating supply of heated water is supplied from at least a pair of microwave units.